A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 11 eBook

We were in some measure relieved from this lingering
and vexatious situation on the 9th September, by an
order then received by Commodore Anson, from the lords
justices, to put to sea on the first opportunity,
with his own squadron only, if Lord Cathcart should
not be ready. Being thus freed from the troublesome
company of so large a fleet, our commodore resolved
to weigh and tide it down channel, as soon as the
weather should become sufficiently moderate, and this
might easily have been done by our squadron full two
months sooner, had the orders of the Admiralty for
supplying us with seamen been punctually complied
with, and had we met with none of those other delays
mentioned in this narration. Even now, our hopes
of a speedy departure were somewhat damped, by a subsequent
order which Mr Anson received on the 12th September,
by which he was required to take under his convoy
the St Albans and the Turkey fleet, and to join the
Dragon and the Winchester, with the Straits and American
trade, at Torbay or Plymouth, and to proceed with
them to sea as far as their way and ours lay together.
This encumbrance of convoy gave us some uneasiness,
fearing it might lengthen our passage to Madeira:
However, having now the command to himself, Mr Anson
resolved to tide down channel with the first moderate
weather; and, that the junction of the convoy might
occasion as little loss of time as possible, he immediately
sent directions to Torbay that the fleet he was there
to take charge of should be in readiness to join him
instantly on his approach. And at last, on the
18th September, he weighed from St Helens, and, though
the wind was at first contrary, had the good fortune
to get clear of the channel in four days, as will
be more particularly related in the ensuing section.

Having thus gone through the respective steps taken
in the equipment of this squadron, it must be sufficiently
obvious how different an aspect the expedition bore
at its first appointment in the beginning of January,
from what it did in the latter end of September, when
it left the channel, and how much its numbers, its
strength, and the probability of its success were
diminished by the various incidents which took place
in that interval. For, instead of having all our
old and ordinary seamen exchanged for such as were
young and able, which the commodore was at first promised,
and having our complement complete to its full number,
we were obliged to retain our first crews, which were
very indifferent; and a deficiency of three hundred
men in our numbers was no otherwise made up than by
sending on board an hundred and seventy men, the greatest
part of whom were discharged from hospitals, or new-raised
marines who had never been at sea before. In
the land-forces allotted to us, the change was still
more disadvantageous; as, instead of Bland’s
regiment of foot, which was an old one, and three
independent companies of an hundred men each, we had
only four hundred and seventy invalids and marines,